Iraq forces fire live rounds at protesters in Baghdad

Anti-government protesters stand on barriers set up by Iraqi security forces to close a bridge near the Green Zone [Hadi Mizban/AP]

DAILYNEWS - Security forces inIraq opened fire on protesters in the country's capital, Baghdad, killing and wounding several people, according to witnesses and news reports.

Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Baghdad, said the clashes occurred when protesters tried to topple barricades on Baghdad's Ahrar bridge on Monday.

"A witness told us that the police responded with live ammunition, not tear gas, and that at least five people may have been killed," she said.

"A medical source told us about 30 people have been injured and these injuries are gunshot wounds to the head and face. The injured include security forces as well as protesters."

The Reuters news agency also said at least five people were killed in the clashes near the Ahrar bridge.

Video showed security forces shooting one protester dead with live ammunition, it said, while a Reuters cameraman said he saw at least four other people killed.

However, security and medical sources told the agency one person had died and 22 were wounded. The sources said rubber bullets and tear gas, not live ammunition, were used.

The interior ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.

Iraqi protesters block roads, shutting offices and schools

The Associated Press also reported clashes in Baghdad, saying dozens of protesters were seen running through the streets, some of them carrying wounded people, as gunshots echoed in the background.

Protesters could be seen throwing rocks at security forces, who deployed an armoured vehicle with a water cannon, the agency said, adding that it was not immediately clear how many protesters were wounded.

AFP, meanwhile, reported that live rounds were fired at protesters amassing near the headquarters of state-run Iraqi TV in the capital.

Monday's deaths were in addition to three protesters killed late on Sunday when security forces opened fire on a crowd trying to storm the Iranian consulate in the Shia Muslim holy city of Kerbala, security and medical sources said.

Security forces in Baghdad had refrained from using live fire in recent days. Nearly 150 people were killed between October 1-7, with 70 percent of deaths resulting from bullets to the head or chest, a government committee report has found.

The demonstrations are rooted in long-standing grievances over poor governance, official corruption and lack of economic opportunity, but have since expanded into demands for sweeping changes and an overhaul of the country's political system, which was established after the US-led invasion in 2003.

Demonstrators have directed their ire at a class of elite leaders whom they accuse of pillaging the oil-rich country's wealth while the population grows poorer.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have protested in central Baghdad and across mostly Shia southern Iraq in recent days.